Chapter Text
It Happens during Tim’s Young Justice days. Of course, it does. What hasn’t happened to Young Justice?
The mission was supposed to be easy, at least. A meta tearing up a district around Traya’s school. Young Justice decided to get involved immediately, since both Traya and Cissie were supposed to be in the affected area.
Everything went wrong almost immediately, as they went in without much intel on the metahuman’s powers. They went in under the impression that the meta could control clouds or moisture. Yet, the second they touched down, lightning was being thrown their way and a thunderclap threw Tim from Kon’s carry.
They miscalculated.
Cassie tried taking to the air, being mostly immune to lightning, but multiple thunderclaps threw her around like she was in a washing machine. Kon tried storming at the meta, but was thrown back by a lightning bolt soon enough. Bart managed to avoid the strikes for a time, using his speed to evade lightning but the thunderclaps covered too wide an area for Bart to avoid forever.
Tim, meanwhile, started planning. Kon was impulsive and brash, his tactics wouldn’t work. Cassie was slightly less impulsive but still very rash, not thinking clearly enough to work. Bart…Tim falters.
Bart could be useful.
Thus, Tim sent out a message to Bart, asking him to pick up Tim and take off. Kon and Cassie on civilian duty. They tried to complain for a minute, until Tim pointed out that Cissie and Traya were somewhere in this mess. Cassie stopped protesting shortly after that, dragging Kon along to make use of his x-ray vision.
Bart raced toward Tim, picking him up and running backward to attempt to minimise the strain on Tim’s body. Bart may have the speedforce protecting him, but Tim doesn’t. Instead, Tim lowers his head and pulls back his extremities in an attempt to minimise the amount of damage his body is taking.
It doesn’t work. Not that it really matters anyway.
Halfway through Tim’s plan to take down the meta, the meta evidently decides that they’ve had enough fun. They shoot a lightning bolt directly at where Tim and Bart are headed. Neither of them spot it in time.
The lightning bolt strikes Bart first, passing through his body into Tim’s.
The strike doesn’t affect Bart all that much as he produces electricity of his own, along with the healing factor, but Tim is only human. The shock causes him to jerk and seize as his muscles lock and twitch. “Tim!” Bart calls out, keeping a hold of Tim throughout, knowing that dropping Tim right now is the worst thing that he can do.
When Tim eventually stills, his heart still beats but Kon can hear that it is out of rhythm. There is something very wrong. Kon immediately abandons his search for civilians to fly after Bart, who stills to let Kon take Tim from his arms.
Then, Bart turns to face the meta, rage in his eyes and lightning sparking the edges of his vision.
The battle doesn’t last long after that.
Xxxxx
Red Tornado is the first outside of Young Justice to see Tim, eyes closed and unconscious as he laid out in the medical bay. His skin almost as pale as the bleached sheets. He immediately goes to report to Batman.
“This is Batman. I am currently busy with something. Call back if it’s important” the gravelly voice says before Batman hangs up. Red Tornado calls again, only to be hung up on again, and again, and again. After the third time, he gives up.
Turning his attention back to Robin, Red tornado hooks him up to the various machines they have in the medical bay. Robin’s heartrate still hasn’t settled, much faster than it should be. His back covered in arching Lichtenberg figures and spreading down his arms and legs. They would be permanent, Red knows.
Cassie and Bart return to the cave shortly after. Traya in Cassie’s arms and Bart continues to vibrate in rage. Kon still waiting to the side of the med bay, arms crossed over his chest, but brow creased in worry.
“Is he alright?” Bart asks immediately, eyes bright and lips pursed. Red isn’t sure what to tell him. He can’t raise Batman. Can’t figure out why Robin’s heart is still racing a mile a minute. So he tells them so.
It isn’t the most heartening statement. Robin’s mentor in the wind as he is injured and even Red doesn’t know what to do. But the team takes it in stride, immediately convening to think about why this is happening. Bart raises the argument that the shock could have changed his heartrate permanently, while Kon thinks that Robin should be taken to an actual hospital. Cassie shoots that idea down with a reminder that Robin wouldn’t want to be taken to a public hospital, even if he is gravely injured, though she seems reluctant to follow through with her own statement.
“Wait. We know a bunch of people who have some kind of medical experience, right? And Barry was struck by lightning, maybe he can help” Bart points out easily, the other 2 seeming hesitant to hope. Though they have no counterargument and thus, Bart dials his mentor and starts speaking fast enough that even Red has trouble following.
“Rob-was-struck-by-lightning-we-need-help-please. Please-uncle-Barry. Please-help-him. His-heartrate-is-really-fast-and-I’m-worried”
It doesn’t take long for Flash to appear after that, racing into the mountain and causing papers to fly in every direction as he skids to a stop in front of Bart’s, eyes wide and smile tight. “I’ll take a look at him, I promise” Barry says, resting a hand on Bart’s shoulder to calm Bart’s anxious vibrating as he scans over Robin’s still form and the displays from his vitals.
Red can see Barry’s question in his eye as he glances up ‘Where is Batman? Have you told him?’ and Red feels almost bad to have to report “Batman is currently unreachable, as is Oracle and Nightwing is off-planet with Starfire” causing Barry’s eyes to crinkle in worry before he asks “Have you gotten in contact?” to which Red sighs, placing Traya on the chair next to him “I have gotten in contact once, where I was dismissed and have been ignored after that call” Red says, eyes lingering on the prone form of the child injured in the battlefield.
Everyone can see Barry’s eyes flash with anger at that statement before he visibly calms himself, stepping forward to evaluate Robin and his condition.
“His vitals look alright for the most part. His heartrate is very fast for his fitness level and physique but that’s the only thing I can see that’s wrong with him. The unconsciousness could be due to shock or injury, his body shutting down to process and heal” Barry notes, looking everything over with a fine-toothed comb. He isn’t sure what is happening either. Until he reaches out to feel Tim’s wrist.
There is…a spark. Not metaphorically. Not metaphysically. No. An actual spark of electricity reaches from Tim’s skin to Barry’s fingertips. Like an arc of lightning.
And that. That has implications that are completely different. After all, that exact spark is how Iris realised Barry’s identity. It happened while he was comatose from the reactor explosion and then again when the tidal wave was racing toward Central City. It wouldn’t be amiss to assume that this might not be all that different.
With that realisation, Barry starts flitting around the unconscious child, checking his vitals over again, monitoring his heartbeat, everything. All while frantically trying to get Caitlyn or Cisco on the phone.
The space between rings seem to lengthen as Bart stares at him in real time, tears starting to appear in the corner of his eyes. After all, Barry’s racing couldn’t mean anything good for Tim. Barry takes a second to assure Bart, resting a hand on his forearm with a smile as he waits for someone to just answer the phone already.
His patience pays off as Cisco’s voice drifts into his ear “Hey dude, what’s-“ before Barry interrupts him “Get Caitlyn and. Actually, get everyone please. We have a bit of a problem”. Cisco can most likely hear the desperation in Barry’s voice, immediately hailing Caitlyn and Jo, as Iris is at work. They gather around him, asking questions but once Barry hears Jo’s voice, he starts to speak.
“It’s Robin”
“Robin. Like Batman’s Robin?” Jo asks
“Yeah. Robin. Young Justice was fighting a metahuman and Robin was struck by lightning”
Barry can hear Jo suck in a breath of parental panic before Caitlyn asks “Which is tragic, but what does it have to do with us?”
“His heartrate is incredibly fast. He’s unconscious. And. There was a spark when I tried taking his vitals physically”
Silence
“Like how Iris felt when you were unconscious at the hospital with the same symptoms” Cisco muses, already pulling up a simulation of the effects of lightning on a human body.
“But you were thrown into chemicals by a lightning strike from the particle accelerator explosion. This was just normal lightning” Caitlyn points out.
Kon, who had been listening in the entire time, deigns that in need of an answer “Bart was carrying him” he says, voice steadier now that he knows that Tim will most likely survive this. It sparks a whole new wave of theories and discussions from Cisco and Caitlyn, while Young Justice hounds Kon for answers.
As Kon explains what has been said to the rest of the team, Barry runs around Tim again, looking things over with his new perspective and he can see Bart do the same. The raised heartbeat makes sense, Barry had the same. The coma makes sense, since Barry had that as well. It all lines up perfectly.
Meanwhile, Caitlyn and Cisco on the other end of the line come to the conclusion that Tim should probably be brought to STAR labs so that they can look them over themselves and make sure that he’s alright. It causes Kon to tense and relay the information immediately.
Barry can see the fight coming in the clench on Kon’s fist, the set of Cassie’s shoulders. But Bart doesn’t look ready to fight. He understands that Tim is in safe hands, probably the safest hands. But his eyes plead with Barry, wide and teary as his chin wobbles.
Barry can’t resist, saying, to the protest of his entire team “Come on. We’re all going to STAR labs. Notify your mentors and follow me”. Bart’s smile is completely worth the lecture Caitlyn is gearing up, while Cisco rambles on about Kon and DNA analysis. It causes Kon to sense marginally before Jo steps in, saying that there will be no testing on children without their permission.
Cisco doesn’t seem the slightest bit disheartened.
With Barry and Bart racing along street side and Kon and Cassie flying high above them, it doesn’t take them long to reach the STAR labs office that Barry had been using as a headquarters for as long as he’d been the Flash. Kon carrying Tim seemed to help a lot as well, his Tactile Telekinesis keeping Tim safe from both the G-force and the debris.
They arrive with a bang, as is normal for them, Bart rushing in alongside Barry as Kon and Cassie drop from the sky and float after them.
The whole team is gathered in the main room, as Barry had suspected, Jo standing awkwardly to the side and watching the kids with wary eyes as Caitlyn sets Robin on the bet and hooks him up to the monitoring system they have. Meanwhile, Cisco turns to Bart, asking him to explain exactly what happened.
Bart explains, enthusiasm bouncing off the walls and rebounding with Cisco’s in a way that makes Barry regret letting them meet. But they explain how both Bart and Tim had been struck with the same bolt of lightning, flowing first through Bart and then into Tim, due to their positioning. It causes Caitlyn and Cisco to start reviewing theories on speedforce transference between two living creatures via electricity.
Young Justice mostly just stands back to watch them work, only intervening when Cisco tries to remove Robin’s cape and tunic, earning a warning that there are some pretty nasty traps in there for anyone who isn’t a bat. They decide to rather leave the uniform on, at that, though they seem conflicted at the mask.
“We need to check his pupil dilation, signs of a concussion. For that to happen, we need to see his eyes. For that to happen, we need to take off his mask” Cisco explains to the young heroes, fretting over the design of the mask and how it adheres to Tim’s skin. “Which is all well and good. But even we don’t know who Rob is yet” Cassie explains, frustration leaking into her statement like this is a fight they’ve had many times before and she’s never won.
“Alright but there is a distinct difference between becoming a speedster or just being unconscious because of a concussion” Cisco says, already scanning Tim and taking samples, hooking him up with more sensors. The entire room tenses, the statement everyone has ben thinking said out loud.
Because there is a distinct possibility that Robin, Batman’s Robin has become a speedster. And nobody is sure how to react, let alone how Batman will react. Barry, remembering the “no metas in Gotham” rule, winces, hoping that it won’t apply to Robin. Hopes that the kid will still be able to be Robin.
A second later, Cisco stills, eyes wide as he turns the screen he is observing to show the room the display. On one side of the screen, Barry can see molecules vibrating and moving the same way that Caitlyn and Dr Wells had shown him all that time ago. On the other side, the molecules are doing the same, though slower.
“Well. There’s no question now. Robin is a speedster” Cisco announces to the room, the silence making the statement reverberate